IEM Winter 2021 play-off stage recap

ilyasha

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Valve IEM

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IEM Winter 2021

On December 12, the final match of the IEM Winter 2021 tournament took place, the winner of which was the French team Vitality, who beat the Swedish team Ninjas in Pajamas with a score of 3: 0 by cards. It should be said that the final stage of Intel Extreme Masters delighted us with interesting and even intriguing confrontations. We propose to discuss the results of the final games that took place on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Virtus.pro - Team Vitality

Let's start with the match of the first semi-final of the championship, where the French team beat Virtus.pro with a score of 2: 0. The confrontation began on the De_Mirage map, the pick of Team Vitality, where the first half went to the CIS piggy bank of the team with a score of 8: 7. The change of sides, as expected by the community, at first did not change the dynamics of the score, the “Bears” took 5 more rounds for themselves, after which it became clear who the “Mirage” would keep, but the impossible happened: at one point the French joined a series of rounds and made a comeback from 7:13 to 16:13. The next in turn was the Vertigo card, the choice of which was for VP, which was remembered by the viewers for a similar development of events. Vitality on the defense side proved to be a very confident opponent, leaving 7 rounds out of 15. As a result, the CIS team gained a minimal advantage over the French, after which they left for a short pause with a positive attitude. The change of sides definitely cheered Vitality up and did them good, the “guests” began to slowly but surely outstrip the rival, maintaining the dominance on the map until the score was 13: 8, until the “Bears” came out of their hibernation and were equal in rounds. And yet, at the end of the series, Vitality managed to snatch victory and reach the grand final of IEM Winter 2021 - 16:13.

Ninjas in Pajamas - G2 Esports

The second match that day took place between Ninjas in Pajamas and G2 Esports, in which Dev1ce could not take part for health reasons. The pick of the first map went to NIPs who chose Nuke, which later almost became fatal for the Swedish band. The game began very exciting and dynamic, G2 immediately took a dominant position, going 6 rounds ahead, only then the attack was able to pull together and win its first round. For the attack, the NIP ended the first half with a gap of 5 rounds not in their favor, but the defense was given to the Swedes more successfully. They gradually, round after round, reduced the initiative of the French, bringing the score to 15:15, a draw in the main rounds, and snatched their pick from the hands of the enemy. Dust2, selected by G2, followed the same storyline dominated by the last team. The change of sides was able to gather the NIPs with strength, but they did not succeed in winning. The last map of this meeting was Inferno, where the fight was very tough and serious. Neither side managed to gain a significant advantage for themselves, the teams exchanged rounds until the moment of truth came. When the score was 14:15 in favor of the Swedes behind the attack, G2 carried out a retake of the A plant, where there was already a bomb under the protection of Plopski and hampus, Niko and AmaNek entered from the long, but a hampus appeared from the “sands” and played a deagle for 2 heads, bringing the team will reach the final.

Ninjas in Pajamas - Team Vitality

The grand final started on the Inferno map, which became the choice of the Swedish team. However, the French quickly seized the initiative on the server, becoming the leader. Already in the second round of the meeting, Kyojin, remaining the last defensive player, first took the picking Rez, and after him he sprinkled the helper es3tag. Nevertheless, NIP managed to get into the game to make a comeback and even come out ahead in the first half. But all the attempts of the Swedes were in vain, because in the second half Vitality showed a lightning-fast attack, managing to quickly crush the opponent, and at the same time take the lead in this series - 16:10. Next, the teams moved to the Dust 2 map, which turned out to be the choice of the French. However, closer to the side switching, NIP leveled the score gap, and then provided a comfortable advantage. But after the swap, Vitality quickly overtook the rival, and soon even outstripped the Swedes, bringing themselves 2 victories out of 3. Everything was decided on the Nuke map, which began under the sign of French superiority. And again, closer to the side switching, NIP managed to close the gap, bringing the matter to a minimum gap. In the second half, the game was more equal, but the French managed to take rounds in series, gradually breaking away from the opponent. As a result, gross mistakes of the NIP and luck of Vitality helped to determine the strongest, and at the same time to win the first trophy of the season.

Zayvu, like a real bee, flew across the map and stung everyone throughout the grand final meeting, surprising everyone on every map. As a result, he became the MVP of the tournament, the first title of this year, you can read more here " ZywOo is the best player in IEM Winter 2021 "

Sixteen teams from around the world competed for the $ 250,000 prize pool.

Results and distribution of prizes: